The knowledge-based view has recently been criticized for overlooking individual-level action and
interaction in favor of an over-emphasis on the firm-level capabilities. This paper seeks to respond to that
criticism by providing some individual-level explanations for a collective-level phenomenon – intraorganizational
knowledge transfer. We suggest that variations in individual ability, motivation and the use
of interaction opportunities provided by the organization explain part of the variation found in individuallevel
knowledge acquisition and use, and that this has an influence on organizational level knowledge
transfer within a firm. More specifically, we find that ability and intrinsic motivation are important drivers
of individual level knowledge acquisition and use, while extrinsic motivation has no impact. Furthermore,
the extent to which an individual uses interaction opportunities provided by the organization influences
knowledge transfer both directly and through a moderator effect with ability and person-to-person
interaction.

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Management innovation is the introduction of new management practices, processes, techniques or
organizational structures that significantly alter the way the work of management is performed. This paper
examines a particular characteristic of management innovation: i.e. pervasiveness. Based on the behavioral
theory of the firm, the determinants of firms’ adoption of pervasive management innovations are explored.
I find that performance shortfalls have a direct positive effect on the pervasiveness of adopted innovations.
Likewise, I find a direct effect of education level, richness of internal communication and CEO novelty on
pervasiveness.

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Background Paper for the Committee for Greenlandic Mineral Resources to the Benefit of Society

Nielsen, Søren Bo(København, 2013)

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Abstract:

This paper considers the role of the public sector in future exploitation of non-renewable resources, especially minerals, in Greenland. The focus is on fiscal sustainability, principles for public sector involvement and the form of government take from mining activities.
At present, the public budget in Greenland is nearly in balance, but at unchanged policies and standards public expenditures relative to GDP are bound to increase dramatically over the next decades due to population ageing. At the same time, the freezing of the block grant from Denmark implies a decrease in revenues relative to GDP. Hence, fiscal policy is quite far from being sustainable. Apart from a need for reforms, these facts also constrain the possible role of the public sector in future resource exploitation. In any case, the government should preferably adhere to strict principles when developing the mineral sector in Greenland. Furthermore, serious attention should be given to how to secure an appropriate government take from mineral activities. The paper discusses several types of taxes as well as financing models.

Purpose: Very little research has been done to find out what happens to organizing in Chinese companies that are located in countries characterized by cooperative capitalism. I focus on this phenomenon and explore what happens to organizing in two Chinese high-tech companies located in Denmark.
Design/methodology/approach: Case studies, interviewing, and three questions inspired by the work of Boltanski & Thévenot: 1) What type of test scenarios are the Chinese and Danes becoming engaged in? 2) Which worlds are called upon as justification of actions by the Chinese and Danes in the test scenarios? 3) How do they discover their relative worth in different worlds enacted in the test scenarios?
Findings: The analysis shows that controversies have emerged in test scenarios where Chinese managers and engineers have enacted a market world and a domestic world, while Danish managers and engineers have enacted an industrial world and a civic world. Furthermore, it is suggested that controversies also occur when Chinese managers enact a fuzzy world. Different worlds collide in these types of test scenarios, creating ambiguity about the worth of the persons involved and the organizing principles in their practices. The Chinese and the Danes deal with the ambiguity in many different ways.
Research limitation: Few cases exist and the data is limited.
Practical implications: The analysis creates learning opportunities for Chinese and Danish managers and highly qualified employees.

In recent years, social media have become omnipresent and highly important for social networking and
content sharing. Lately we have witnessed how also political parties adopt social media as part of their
political campaign strategy. The purpose of this work-in-progress paper is to investigate this tendency by
posing two research questions: 1) what do political parties perceive as affordances of social media use in
their campaign strategy? And 2) how are these affordances reflected in the political parties’ actual actions
during the campaign? To address the two questions, we conducted a qualitative case study of the political
parties’ use of Facebook in the Danish general election in 2011. Our preliminary findings reveal three main
categories of affordances that the political parties wish to pursue: 1) they want to facilitate direct
communication to promote political interests and create room for dialogue in a controlled environment, 2)
they want to project an image of authenticity through an informal media, and 3) they want to create
interaction and involvement through dynamic relationships with voters. A closer look at the parties’ actual
use of Facebook reveals that their intention of generating interaction and involvement is limited by their
actions as most of them do not engage with the users’ posts and comments. The tensions between
perceived affordances and actual use prompt further investigation of what political parties should consider
when engaging in social media activities as part of their campaign strategy.

Over the past few years, mobile payments have been present like a storm on the horizon. They have
generated a lot of attention; yet have not reached wide adoption. Issues such as the complexity of
the mobile payment ecosystem and the lack of sustainable business models have been accounted for
the slow market penetration. With the rise of new technologies such as NFC, the mobile payment
sphere experiences a new height of talk, which materialized in a second wave of companies entering
the market. Using the case study method, we will enquire into two recent mobile payment initiatives
in the U.S, namely Google Wallet and ISIS. As such, the paper sets out to study NFC-enabled
mobile payment innovations and provide an analysis of business models of m-payment services. The
outcome of the paper contributes to the research of business models and mobile payment in two
ways. First, it offers an applicable business model framework that allows practitioners and academics
to study current and future mobile payment approaches. Second, it offers new insight in the
field of NFC mobile payments; specifically about concrete business model configurations to effectively
reach mass-market.

In the recent years the successful collaborative arrangements and relationships between university, industry and public institutions have become a mantra in transforming new scientific knowledge into new innovations and business ventures. The fit between these very different actor groups has been treated as a contingent factor. However only little attention have been giving to a specific focus on the strategies that new business ventures have obtained to establish the fit between small firms, university research, and public policies such as regulatory policies and R&D policies. The emergence of the new biotechnologies and these techniques predominately coming from the university sector make the new biotechnology organizations an interesting object for studying these relationships both on a regional and a national level.
From the perspective of the small biotechnology firms (SBFs) the paper explores four different strategies for dealing with network relations; the research oriented strategy, the incubator strategy, the industrial partnering strategy, and the policy-oriented strategy. The research-oriented strategy is narrowly focusing on how a biotechnology firm transforms their scientific results into promising technologies, services or products. The incubator strategy is concerned with localization and how to come about specific types of managerial problem in the initial stage of forming a business venture. The industrial partnering strategy concerns how to overcome the problem of bringing the technologies from an experimental stage at a research lab to be able handle industrial processes and full-scale production. Last but not least the policy oriented strategy focus on problem of having products approved by the public authorities.
Theoretically the article draws upon network theories and a dynamic view of network relations. That is done in order to capture the nature of the relationships between different types of actors, but also in order to emphasize the informal nature of some of these relationships.
The article has a dual purpose; 1) From a corporate point of view to emphasize multiple conditions for developing and forming interorganizational relationships, 2) From a research perspective to point to the diversity and heterogeneity of these relations and thereby emphasizes the evolutionary nature of these relations and their relatedness to the overall strategies obtained by the biotechnology entrepreneurs.
The paper is structured so it will start out by stating its methodological foundations. Thereafter the theoretical positioning of the network approach will seek to argue that we have multiple network relationships are at play. Not only do these networks differ but also the institutional and organizational origins are to be touched upon to come to understand the nature of the biotechnology environment and the actors involved. The positioning of the SBFs as the focal point of the analysis leads to a discussion on entrepreneurial business strategies in biotechnology industry and how these business strategies in a very distinct mode is correlated with interorganizational relationships. The empirical evidence will be fleshed out in four cases representing each of the four suggested strategies. The conclusion discusses three implications of network partnering analysis. First, it discusses the theoretical contributions on the diversity, heterogeneity between the four partnering strategies. Second, it will point to future directions in the research. Third, the conclusion will point to the managerial challenges that can be foreseen.

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Knowledge governance is characterized as a distinctive research subject, the
understanding of which cuts across diverse fields in management. In particular, it
represents an intersection of knowledge management, strategic management, and
theories of the firm. Knowledge governance considers how deployment of
governance mechanisms influences knowledge processes: sharing, retaining, and
creating knowledge. We survey the papers in this volume of the special issue, and
discuss the remaining research challenges.

The development of sustainable products or services is defined by Maxwell as the process of making products or services in a more sustainable way (production) throughout their entire life cycle, from conception to the end-of-life (Maxwell & van der Vorst, 2003). Essentially, sustainable products or services are alternatives to existing ones, but of a superior quality, providing the same function to the customer, being more cost-effective, while also generating less harm on the surrounding environments or societies. The emphasis is on securing the efficiency of inputs and outputs is all actions along the life cycle of the product or service, from raw materials to discharged waste, so that unnecessary consumption of resources and generation of wastes are avoided. More advanced concepts such as product-service systems and needs-oriented-service systems aim to reduce impacts from the production and the use phase, or even at the end-of-life phase of a product (Mont, 2002; Roy, 2000). New and under development, the area of product-service systems is increasingly gaining acceptance from companies (Manzini & Jégou, 2003).

The economic turmoil over the past decade has accentuated the focus on corporate risk management and organizational adaptability under turbulent market conditions. However, there is little empirical evidence assessing whether promoted risk approaches are in fact associated with favourable corporate risk outcomes. Here we introduce the concept of dynamic capabilities as firm-specific adaptation under environmental turbulence that avoids extreme loss situations and provides stable business development. We test the relationship between effective dynamic capabilities and corporate risk outcomes in two large samples over two 10-year periods (1991-2000 and 2001-2010) representing distinctly different macro-economic conditions. The analysis uncovers significant positive risk outcomes effects in both periods, which suggests that dynamic capabilities may serve as a conceptual foundation to better understand effective risk management practices.

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This paper investigates the importance of sunk costs, firm characteristics and spillovers from nearby exporters on a firm’s export participation decision. The empirical analysis involves the estimation of a non-structural, discrete choice, dynamic model with firm heterogeneity. The results suggest that both sunk costs and observable firm characteristics are important determinants of export market participation. In addition, previous history matters, in that, if a firm has been exporting the last period or the period before that it significantly increases the likelihood of the firm exporting in the current period. This conclusion is robust across all specifications. Also, larger firms with high capital intensity and foreign owned are more likely be exporters. Finally, while there is no clear evidence on export spillovers, if a firm operates in an export-oriented industry increases the likelihood of exporting. Dynamic Panel, sunk costs, export decision.

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This thesis provides a framework for information retrieval based on a set of models which together
illustrate how users of search engines come to express their needs in a particular way. With such
insights, we may be able to improve systems’ capabilities of understanding users’ requests and through
that eventually the ability to satisfy their needs. Developing the framework necessitates discussion of
context, relevance, need development, and the cybernetics of search, all of which are controversial
topics. Transaction log data from two enterprise search engines are analysed using a specially
developed method which classifies queries according to what aspect of the need they refer to.

In stark contrast to other national settings, the commercial foundation is a rather common form of ownership of enterprises in Denmark. Today, there are around 1,300 Danish commercial foundations. Familiar foundations include AP Møller Mærsk, Carlsberg, Egmont, and Novo Nordisk. Our paper aims to facilitate an understanding of this unique Danish tradition and explore its profound contemporary relevance.The significance of Danish commercial foundations, their societal and compassionate role, has manifested itself through philanthropic projects for centuries.
We explore the dual identities that inhere in contemporary Danish commercial foundations, and how these impact contemporary society. There are also challenges and opportunities for such foundations in light of recent Danish corporate social responsibility (CSR) legislation. We explore these through a contextual analysis of legal structures that govern Danish commercial foundations.
Extended Foundational Corporate Citizenship (EFCC) is presented in the paper as a communications model or tool to help resolve the inherent tension between a commercial foundation’s contemporary business and philanthropic units, offering an aid to strategic advantage identification. The EFCC model and associated modes of communication proposed may further serve to manage legislative pressures presented to commercial foundations. Moreover, the traditional commercial foundation structure, coupled with EFCC model deployment, appears theoretically and strategically anticipatory of emerging Danish legislative obligations.
Isomorphic processes within commercial foundations shed light on the links between the internal communicative challenge and CSR legislation. Such isomorphism appears between the business - philanthropic configuration and the company - CSR configuration. These processes aid recognition of the potential benefit of the inherent structure of a commercial foundation in relation to the emerging focus on CSR legislation. An additional purpose of illustrating the isomorphic processes was to facilitate clarification of a potential strategic advantage of commercial foundations, indicating how such traditional foundations may not only exist in society but operate “ahead of” emerging CSR legislative reporting obligations.
The contemporary proliferation of CSR, as a legal matter, is a potent source of consumer interest. It is also a research field that provides commercial foundations with a number of opportunities to explore. Legislative obligations may appear to be little more than a reporting obligation for commercial foundations’ business units. Yet, our research suggests the structure of a commercial foundation already contains a latent communicative advantage for the good, not only of commercial foundations, but also contemporary society. We believe that our research findings in the Danish case of foundation organization and management theory may be of interest to an international audience. Within the structure of a commercial foundation one may find inherent notions of compassion coupled with authentic commercial and profit-making intentions. Indeed, we hope the results offer a path to successfully anticipate current, as well as future, stakeholder and public expectations for an organizational form of historical interest and future merit.

Innovation is at the heart of firm competitiveness. Due to the limited potential for knowledge
recombination within organizational boundaries, companies are increasingly forced to span
boundaries and tap into external knowledge sources in order to innovate. The role that skilled
individuals play in this process of harnessing external knowledge for firm innovation is an
increasingly studied phenomenon. However, the conditions under which external knowledge
sourcing impacts firm innovation remain underexplored. The research question that guides this
dissertation is formulated as follows: How does external knowledge sourcing affect firm-level
innovative activity? The purpose of this thesis is to examine how recruitment of skilled
individuals, and to a lesser extent collaboration and licensing, affects firm-level innovation, and
which individual- and firm-level characteristics moderate this relationship.
The dissertation consists of four empirical essays, an introduction, and a conclusion. The basis
for three of these essays is The Integrated Database for Labor Market Research (IDA) provided
by Statistics Denmark which is matched to patent data from the European Patent Office (EPO)
and survey data on firm innovation from the Danish Centre for Studies in Research and
Research Policy (CFA). One essay relies on a combination of the Deloitte Recap Database and
patent data from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The combination of
datasets used in each essay allows us to study the role of scientists and engineers and in
particular their movement across organizational boundaries in great detail.

Natural resource-driven development in Africa has emerged as a hot topic in recent
years. Extractive industries,1 by which is meant energy (i.e. gas, oil, and coal), minerals
and metals, are an important part of this agenda. The renewed interest among governments,
firms and donors in these industries hinges on the assumption that they will
generate foreign revenues, create jobs and boost economic growth. Indeed, Africa’s
abundant endowments of natural resources may speed up economic transformation,
economic diversification and poverty alleviation. Industrial policies are thought to
be particularly important to achieve this by helping to develop the linkages of the
extractive industries sectors and the local economy, and by using resource rents and
revenues to generate growth and employment in agriculture, industry and services
more broadly.

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Eye tracking has been used successfully as a technique for measuring cognitive load in reading, psycholinguistics, writing, language acquisition etc for some time now. Its application as a technique for automatically measuring the reading ease of MT output has not yet, to our knowledge, been tested. We report here on a preliminary study testing the use and validity of an eye tracking methodology as a means of semi- and/or automatically evaluating machine translation output. 50 French machine translated sentences, 25 rated as excellent and 25 rated as poor in an earlier human evaluation, were selected. 10 native speakers of French were instructed to read the MT sentences for comprehensibility. Their eye gaze data were recorded non-invasively using a Tobii 1750 eye tracker. The average gaze time and fixation count were found to be higher for the “bad” sentences, while average fixation duration and pupil dilations were not found to be substantially different between output rated as good or bad. Comparisons between BLEU scores and eye gaze data were also made and found to correlate well with gaze time and fixation count, and to a lesser extent with pupil dilation and fixation duration. We conclude that the eye tracking data, in particular gaze time and fixation count, correlate reasonably well with human evaluation of MT output but fixation duration and pupil dilation may be less reliable indicators of reading difficulty for MT output. We also conclude that eye tracking has promise as an automatic MT Evaluation technique.